Just A Fever
by XSilverWolf101
Summary: Summary: When a certain member of team 7 falls sick while on a mission, it's up to his teammates and sensei to get him to recover of course physically… but also mentally. (Fearful Sasuke) (Fluff)
1. Chapter 1: Rain, Thunder & Regret

Summary: When a certain member of team 7 falls sick while on a mission, it's up to his teammates and sensei to get him to recover of course physically… but also mentally. (Fearful Sasuke) (Fluff) His more tense actions don't appear until further into the story

3rd's POV

It was becoming evening in Konoha, a cool breeze blew across the village's crowded streets. Dark clouds hovered above the Hokage monument whilst birds from above swooped down at their prey, ignoring the heavy storm that was approaching. Just like how the bird were ignoring the storm, Sasuke walked through the streets to his home, he passed Naruto at Ichiraku as usual, ignored one of the blonde's offers to eat with him and continued to stroll off. He finished the final day of training alone, Kakashi wasn't around for a small period due to a mission, so he relied on himself to keep going, tomorrow though the masked nin would return and go back to normal training sessions with his team. While Sasuke walked he would mutter small words with a face of grimace each time another breeze blew passed him. 'Stupid,' 'cold,' 'annoying,' the Uchiha was not in the mood for the weather which was for sure about to take over. Then what he had dreaded the most arrived, a small droplet of water plummeted onto his nose, it grew until the ground below him became drenched. He let out a frustrated sigh and began to walk faster, beginning to regret that he didn't pack any rain gear or at least an umbrella while he went training. His body began to feel less warm and more drained, if he didn't get to his apartment sooner Sasuke would catch a cold, and the male knew it too. His blue shirt was soaked and his shorts were turning gray from the dampness the water gave it. Black raven hair stuck to his forehead, his bangs were wet and sticky. Sasuke always knew his apartment was far away from where he trained, but of all days all he wished was for it to be right in front of him.

Finally after another few more minutes of walking through the rain, the Uchiha entered his home and turned on the lights, he took off his sandals and put them on a small shoe rack. From his fatigue he went straight into his room and put all his training gear away, then fell onto his bed with no other thought.

Forgetting to change into warmer dry clothes, he _tried_ to sleep through the rest of the night as his body continued to toss and turn, and attempted once more to find another cool spot in the bed. Subconsciously he kicked his blanket off, and shivered as thunder echoed outside into the hellsome night. Was he hot or cold? Sasuke couldn't decide at that point, his body and mind were too weak to bother thinking and registering an answer. He sighed painfully at the fact he knew he wouldn't be able to train the following morning, and admitted only to himself that he had caught a bad _draft_. His team won't need to know anything, he thought. It's not their business, was what he told himself to make him feel better about the situation. It was clear to him he was definitely not fond of illness, but knew he had no other choice to get out of it.

As the morning sun rose through the Uchiha's dark curtains, a new day arised. Sunlight glistered on top of Sasuke's raven hair. He groaned quietly and opened his eyes quickly to see the overload of brightness that he expected fill his room. His observations the previous night were correct. He really did catch a 'draft'. Boy was he going to hate it. He forced himself out of bed tiredly and staggered to his mirror, taking an eyeful of how bad he really looked. He grimaced at his sickly pale skin. After scanning his entire look Sasuke went and finally changed into some dry set of clothes, looked at his clock and flinched slightly, of course he was late. He tiredly ran over to the front of his house, put his sandals on and dashed outside. The sun beat down on him painfully. Why all of the sudden did the weather hate him so much? He pondered frustratedly. He then felt a tickle in his nose, dreading, he winced because it was obvious that it would take out a lot of his remaining strength to sneeze.

After hitching for many moments, a "hha..Hae'ikshoo!" doubled him over and made him grunt in pain. People around him in the village would've thought they need to get themselves checked. Sasuke Uchiha sneezing? It was almost impossible to believe. He continued to walk to the training grounds with his head down. Could it be that he was flustered? No. Uchihas don't get flustered, was what he fed himself. Sasuke ignored it and prepared himself to act fine around his team. Once he arrived straight away he saw a worrisome Sakura, an aggravated Naruto and even his sensei Kakashi.

"Sasuke! Come on even Kakashi-sensei managed to get here before you dattebayo! What were you doing?!" the blonde yelled angrily at his teammate before taking another look further into his appearance, he then fell silent and tilted his head in confusion "Nani?" He whispered quietly, something about his rival was different, and Naruto could tell. Sakura then got closer to Sasuke and decided to demonstrate what she believed Naruto _should have_ stated.

"Don't bother about him Sasuke-kun, _I'm sure_ you have _good reasoning_!" She said emphasising words in her sentence to make Naruto realise her point, he then pouted to the side. Sakura then took a better look at the raven herself along with Kakashi who stayed silent behind them witnessing everything, his eye darkened slightly and observed the rather tired looking boy. The masked nin then decided to brush it off and carry on with their task for the day.

"All right then, the fifth hokage has assigned us with a mission in the Land of Water, apparently some rouge shinobi had infiltrated the outskirts of the village and so to give our village a good reputation it was best we come in and help considering how little they are working with right now," Kakashi finished and looked at his team who nodded at the task, except for the raven who more or less panted and tilted his head up and down. At that gesture Sakura decided she had enough of the unusual feeling he gave off, his chakra had been sending an uncomfortable vibe to his entire team since he had arrived. Sasuke especially, had dark and mysterious chakra, through that morning it felt almost exhausted, weak and gave off a pale murky colour. It was by far enough to concern the pinkette.

"Sasuke-kun.." She started quietly, she went to open her mouth to talk again but he interrupted.

"It's fine." he answered in his usual cold tone, though it taunted distress and strain. She frowned and went to move his dark hair out of the way of his forehead, though as she moved her hand increasingly closer to his head Sasuke snapped. He grabbed hold of it by the wrist.

"I said it's fine Sakura," he answered again, that time was more stern and much colder. Sakura looked at him slightly hurt by his reaction, but nodded in understanding. Though, later on she was going to for sure get a better look. Naruto from the side glared at Sasuke.

"Don't do that to Sakura-chan, teme!" He muttered angrily at the male, who stared back at him tiredly. The blonde froze for a moment and put his arm he was pointing with down and tilted his head in confusion once more, he blinked and put it back up."Oi! Quit doing that to me dattebayo!" He said referring to the same face he was given last time. Of course unless it was needed Naruto wouldn't express concern for his rival, though it was didn't mean he didn't feel any at all. Kakashi sighed,

"Alright then you lot, let's go!"


	2. Chapter 2: Encounters

**Chapter 2**

The team began their walk out the village gates, leaves rustled passed them and whistled inside the wind. Sasuke stayed at the back of the group so he would have even just a small moment by himself to recuperate, he muttered a quiet 'Tch' to himself almost inaudible so his team wouldn't hear. His legs staggered in an uncoordinated pattern from the increased fatigue he continued to feel, and continued to wipe of sweat that would be an instant giveaway if just one member of his team turned around. Which someone did, Sakura. Just his luck.

"Sasuke-kun, please, tell me why you're hanging behind?" she asked and even more worry lingered in her tone than earlier. She walked further back to where he was, the male grunted in annoyance and didn't answer. She put a hand on his cheek. "Please Sasu-" she started, until her hand registered the heat that radiated off his body. Her face filled with concern. Sasuke glared at her, just because she knew doesn't mean he will give in. With that in mind he sneezed anyway. Perfect. "Hae'ikshoo!"

He grimaced in frustration - and sniffled. "Sasuke-kun you shouldn't partake in the mission..!" Sakura said in concern for the raven next to her. He stiffened and began to recompose himself quickly.

"Shut up, you're annoying." He replied back with venom that lingered in his tone. Sakura for once then decided to use her backbone on him. Naruto and Kakashi turned around to the commotion. Sakura scrunched her fists into a ball and gritted her teeth. "Stop being such a stubborn fool! Do you know what it's like standing here feeling pathetic over you!?" she blurted out angrily. Sasuke stood there frozen, then began to rub his temples to try and ease the headache of his that only seemed to get worse. The pinkette dropped her anger and desperately hugged the male.

"Please… Go back to the village, I don't want you to get hurt," Her lips quivered from trying to held back the sobbing that was expected to come. Sasuke looked at the girl within his embrace weakly. Naruto then piped up.

"SASUKE! CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT TODAY DATTEBAYO?!" He yelled angrily seeing the only girl on their team looking very hurt. Sasuke still froze and was becoming too tired to move altogether.

"Shut up dobe… It's just a fever…" He admittedly spoke as his voice trailed. Sasuke collapsed and began to pant laboured breaths. "Sasuke!" Kakashi spoke up and ran to his student's side. The quiet boy below him winced from the palm his sensei rested on his forehead, then sighed from the small freedom of the unbearable cold in his blonde looked at his teammate and tried to say something, Sakura was the same. But just as they tried to talk, 3 ninja jumped down and began to throw their kunais. Sasuke stood back up instinctively. The ground around the team began to overflow with thick mist. These had to be the shinobi they were after. The rest of his team stood guard with him and got ready to fight, his legs staggered weakly below him. Though the raven ignored it.

"I said I'm fine!" he yelled sounding very irritated, the male then sprang back into a tree ready to attack the mist shinobi that were trying to injure his team. Sakura whined almost frustratingly seeing as Sasuke wasn't giving in even to the extent of passing out. "Shannaroo...Sasuke-kun!" she mumbled to herself angrily. Kakashi sighed and got Naruto to follow him. The masked nin internally face palmed at the fact two members of his team split up from the team. Suddenly, rustling of leaves startled Naruto and his sensei.

"Got you," it was easy to tell the male was smirking.

The missing nin stabbed Kakashi through his chest as the masked nin began to wince painfully and his eyes bulged wide open. First there was an awkward silence, as Naruto stood there frozen for a moment and watched his sensei, then a large poof sound echoed through the area. "A clone?" the rouge questioned when the smoke cleared. It was obvious that the blonde had immediately left the branch as well.

Sasuke & Sakura met up on the same branch and decided to stay put before going to strike. Naruto crept up behind them and they observed their sensei who was in the open in silence. Of course, Sasuke coughed ever so quietly, but hoarsely. Sakura looked at him still filled with concern from earlier. Her eyes scrunched up worriedly.

The three mist ninja sprung down from their hiding spots and circled Kakashi. They clenched their weapons tightly.

"Sharingan no Kakashi eh?"

Naruto and Sakura were on the ground tied up against a tree, their sensei was knocked out and blood poured from under his headband. They had caught him at the just one very small moment he was off guard. Sasuke stood warily unsure of what to do for a moment, the nins smirked.

"I thought Uchiha's were meant to be strong.." one spoke up with a evil grin as they crept closer to the boy.

"Yeah, oh wait, wasn't it this kid's brother, Itachi was it? That killed the clan?" another added and his eyes showed signs of enjoyment from taunting the raven.

"That's right.. It's a shame he wasn't worthy of having his blood within his brother's palms…" the final finished their taunt. Sasuke grimaced angrily and activated his Sharingan without thought.

He jumped into the air. "Fire style: Firebal-l juts-..hAK'sTSHOO!" he sneezed loudly and wetly into the air. His supposedly fireballs came out weakly and striked just one of the shinobi, who recovered quickly from the weak attack. Before he knew it, Sasuke was on the ground passed out. His fever took its final push into passing him out fully.

"I-Itachi..." the male weakly murmured as his body fell into darkness,

Before the three ninja jumped closer, they all fell to the ground onto their knees in pain. Their chakra was drained. Instead, they nodded to each other and used their remaining strength to retreat further away into the forest.

After some minutes, Kakashi was first to wake up. He immediately grabbed an old rag he kept for bleeding and wrapped it around his forehead, covering his headband. The masked nin then got the blonde & pinkette and untangled them, they woke up also and all went to Sasuke who was out cold. By far it was already obvious from the start to all of them that he wasn't feeling well. Naruto grabbed the unconscious raven and put his arm over his shoulder. "Teme is so stubborn dattebayo," he commented inwardly. They all began walking to a nearby cave. It would be enough shelter for the next few days. All the three could do now was wait for Sasuke to awake.

 **(Sorry it's unedited! 3)**


	3. Chapter 3: Trauma

**Quick A/N Sorry I haven't posted lately! I'll try to get back to weekly updates asap. (Sorry if Sasuke is OOC this chapter or in any previous ones, I tried my best to balance his emotions to the anime!) Anyways, Enjoy!**

3rd's POV

Sasuke walked down the cold road to where he lived with his family. The night was mysterious and the air was still, it felt unusual, but it didn't worry the boy too much. He had just finished training for the day and had come home later than usual. After rethinking that Sasuke picked up his pace and started to lightly run to his house while his bag waved in the cool air.

He opened his door and ran into a room to find his older brother, but it was not the brother he expected to see. Blood ran through the cracks into the floorboards. Two, middle-aged bodies were resting lifeless on the ground. His parents. A certain dark haired male stood diligently armed with a steel sword behind them. Sasuke froze. The older male looked up emotionlessly, whilst Sasuke did painfully. He screamed.

"NII-SAN!"

Just as the scene was about to continue, Sasuke's world around him stopped. His body went still and he was brought into a different time period, approximately 10 minutes later. Though, of course Sasuke knew exactly what was coming, but he felt as though he was ready, he was his present age. He looked around angrily until he spotted his brother, but before he could charge in the male spoke first. "Watch younger brother..." Itachi paused and activated his mangekyo sharingan. The red eyes glowed & stood out against the darkness of that torturous night.

"Watch them all die in front of you." he spoke coldly down at Sasuke. Bodies dropped left and right as blood poured out of each of them. The boy stared into his brother's emotionless blood-filled face furiously. Clearly, he wasn't like his younger self anymore, now was the time.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" he screamed and shot into the air.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" three giant blazing fire balls shot out from the boy's mouth. His older brother looked blankly, and dodged them without any effort. The younger raven grunted. He felt a sharp pain shoot through his body. "ARGH" He looked at his composed and almost bored older brother below him in fury. And just like that, as fast as the younger raven's attack started, it was ended within seconds.

Sasuke grabbed his chest in pain. He began to cough badly, and tried to gasp for air. He jumped down onto the ground and grunted while his body rattled with every cough. Of course, the boy just had to suffer another coughing fit at that moment. Itachi was now above him, he sighed with a disappointed tone.

"Weak. As expected from my foolish little brother," he said with a hard sigh. The boy on the ground grimaced and tried to block out the voice. He grabbed his hands to his ears so hard that his nails clawed into his skin and bleed. Itachi walked over to Sasuke.

"Do you believe that the people around you… Your team and friends.."

The boy gripped his ears tighter.

"Do they think you were ever strong if you act like this?" he snarled and looked upon his brother almost with pity. Sasuke gave up on gripping.

"SHUT UP-" he was cut off.

"They all know your weak Sasuke. They always knew."

The boy snapped.

Sasuke shot up from the thin blankets he was in with a start. He cried out fearfully as he panted from the nightmare. He noticed that he was inside a small cave, it was raining outside and water droplets sprinkled off the stone above him. The raven continued looking around warily and grabbed his eye quickly as a shot of pain ran through his body. He yelled as the voices of his older brother ran through his mind like a song he couldn't get out of his head. Just before he was about to yell anymore, a different voice stopped the thoughts for a split second.

"Sasuke-kun! Calm down!" he heard a more familiar and feminine voice. Sakura. 'She knows your weakness Sasuke'. It rang through his head without thinking. His eyes snapped and he pulled away the arm that was pushing him down.

"STAY AWAY!" he yelled and fear rattled in his tone. The boy couldn't see her face, but he knew that it was the pinkette.

He continued panic uncharacteristically. He made out two other blurred figures that approached him more forcefully. "Sasuke teme what's going on?!" he heard the voice of an all too loud blonde. He winced and his body fell onto the supposedly makeshift pillow below him. He panted laboured shaking breaths.

Naruto kneeled close to him and tried touch his teammates body so the raven knew it was okay, but before he reached the male's boiling skin his arm was shoved away in an instant.

"Stay away.. Don't come near me!" Sasuke continued to yell then began to cough. The pinkette beside him straight away went to accompany him, though the male hated it his body untensed with her soft movements. Kakashi then came to his level hastily and sighed. "Sasuke!" he started loudly and grabbed the boy's shaking wrist. Sasuke looked at him fearfully. Kakashi clenched his grasp tightly.

"It was a dream, you are safe!"

There was a small deafening silence as the raven continued to force the voices out of his head. His eyes dared to let tears pour but he forced them down. 'Now isn't the time to be crying Sasuke, you'll only make yourself look even more foolish.' The cold tone made him utter another scream. Naruto and Sakura could only stare worriedly while Kakashi tried to calm him down. The masked nin clenched the boy's hand even tighter.

"Itachi has nothing to do with this right now! Snap out of it Sasuke!" He continued. That caught the two teammate's attention 'Who's.. Itachi..?' they both thought.

The words made the raven widen his eyes and the tormenting voices inside of him softened, though they still were loud enough to hear. He ran cold.

"We won't let you fall weak to darkness! You are a strong shinobi!"

That did it. The visions, voices, thoughts, everything vanished from the boy. He felt numb, his eyes fell weak. Kakashi caught his upper body before it flopped onto the stone ground forcefully. The masked nin smiled softly and helped him lay down gentlier, Sasuke looked at him with a ever so small thankful smile. He got back a kind smile as well. There was plenty of emotions in the room, though it was mainly silent. Kakashi then rested his hand on the boy's forehead, in which Sasuke accepted calmly. There was a small pause.

'Still high.. We'll just have to recuperate in this cave for a few days..' The sensei thought to himself, the expression on his face however let the three genin with him know the answer. Sakura sighed heavily and Sasuke grunted. Then Naruto decided to speak up quickly before the moment went by.

"Teme.. What was that about..?" he asked quietly to the male resting beside him. Sasuke looked at his sensei for help on how to answer. "You can tell them Sasuke," Kakashi responded. The raven silently tensed up again, but before he could say anything to the blonde beside him, he sneezed and fell back down to the stone ground. Kakashi looked at him sympathetically, so did his teammates.

"Suppose another time?"

The male on the ground nodded and closed his eyes as he felt his conscious slip. He prayed that his older brother wouldn't haunt him in his sleep again.

After a couple more hours with the rain flowing heavily off the stone spikes that stood out of the entrance of the cave, the three members that were still awake decided to keep themselves on guard incase the shinobi will come back. Sakura also managed to gather some herbs for later, it was clear they were going to be hiding out in that place for awhile so it was best she gathered some food for the rest of her team. After managing to pick up a decent amount she went over to start brewing a small meal with the small campfire Kakashi had made, she slightly flinched out of shock when she heard Sasuke asleep near her wince. She then remembered what Kakashi was saying before about the 'mysterious man' named Itachi, her lips formed a worried frown.

She looked at him as he grimaced, and sighed. Not even the 'Great Uchiha Sasuke' could muster the strength to stop a fever filled dream. The pinkette looked at him worriedly and placed her hand where his was laying restlessly beside her. "I'm here Sasuke-kun," she started and smiled gently. She then squeezed his palm supportively.

"I'm here."

After a few moments of resting her hand on his, the male within her grasp started to relax and his tense position slipped away gradually. He fell into a more peaceful sleep. Sakura quietly giggled at how easy he was 'listening' at that moment. She got up from where she was kneeling and continued to make Naruto and Kakashi's small dishes, and the raven's warm soup.

Shortly after, Kakashi & Naruto crept back into the entrance of the cave to where the other two teammates were. The three sat down near Sasuke and ate quietly, Naruto's slurping was the only thing interrupting the peacefulness. Besides that, the team decided to stay in the comfortable position they had gained. Though after a short while, Sasuke began to awake once more, he groggily opened his eyes.

"Oi Sasuke, welcome back to reality dattebayo!" Naruto was the first to notice, and so he greeted the male which alerted the other two beside the blonde. Sasuke stared back tiredly and began to stretch his limbs, then sat up weakly. A small silence crept up on the team until it became unbearable. Sakura was the first to talk, "Sasuke-kun, you should try this, it'll help you," she stated him and handed the boy the warm bowl of broth. He took it with a blank look on his face, though he was definitely grateful. He nodded in appreciation, but no emotion was shown. Kakashi looked at him with a harsh sigh.

'Seriously why did he have to be tormented so much?' He looked down upon the boy, and a grimace rested on his face. It was hidden behind his mask of course, but it was still visible. He knew that Sasuke had obviously wrestled another painful nightmare, but now wasn't the time to be asking any questions to make the situation worse.

The boy finally after the minutes of no emotion, looked at the masked male with a face that made Kakashi know his observations were even more correct. The tiredness & pain that rested upon him, though it was uncharacteristic, and though it was something that damaged his ego, the raven couldn't stand trying to act calm and untouched by his struggles in the position he was in any longer. Kakashi's one visible eye looked at the onix ones before him with a sympathetic look. Naruto and Sakura sat unsure of what to currently think of their teammate.

'What is he hiding..?'

It was then that the silence had to be stopped, the silver haired male came closer to Sasuke and gave a strengthening look. The boy then knew what was going to come next and prepared himself with a small sigh.

"Now is the time to tell them Sasuke. They will understand."


End file.
